Declaration
by Idle Leaves
Summary: James has something he needs to say. From a random fic generator challenge involving James, Lily, Lumos!, and drunken revelries.


**Disclaimers:** I make absolutely no claims to these characters; they are the sole property of their original creator/author. I make no profit from this work of fiction, and no disrespect is intended.  
**Rating:** G.  
**Cast:** James, Lily.  
**Notes:** From a random fic generator challenge involving James, Lily, _Lumos!_, and drunken revelries.  
**Summary:** James has something he needs to say.  
  
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DECLARATION  
-----------------**  
  
It was just after one, and her fire was little more than embers. A muted rumble outside disrupted the sleepy quiet of the night, then it was gone again and Lily listened. She waited for the door at the bottom of the stairs to squeak as it opened, but all she heard was the pop and crackle from the fireplace.  
  
Something struck the window with a tiny crack. An erratic series of similar noises followed; Lily blinked, surprised rather than startled. She peered through the curtains, squinting to see past the faint reflection of the lit room in the glass. She started to take a step back, but another, different, sound stilled her movement. Was that her _name_? She twisted the lock on the window frame and pushed.  
  
A fine mist--almost rain--drifted on the thick air. The chill was refreshing, but she hardly had time to take in a deep breath before her attention was drawn downwards.  
  
"Lily!" James' voice held a touch of a telltale slur. His hands were out, palms up; Lily's eyes had to adjust to the darkness before she could make out the lazy grin on his face as he called to her again.  
  
A smile threatened the corners of her mouth, prompted more by confusion than amusement. "What are you doing in the middle of the lawn?"  
  
"Well," he started, taking a quick glance around, "I'm not actually in the middle of the lawn. That'd be, I think, about ten feet that way." He gestured with his left hand. "I am, however, more or less under your window."  
  
"I see that," Lily replied, folding her arms and leaning against the sill.  
  
James dropped the pebbles he still held in one hand. "I have something to tell you, Lily."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I must confess," he said, his careful wording sounding almost foolish, "that I'm madly in love with you, and, as such, would like nothing more than for you to come with me to Madam Puddifoot's on our next Hogsmeade weekend."  
  
Lily made a short sound somewhere between a chuckle and a snort. "James," she said, mockingly but affectionately, "we finished school two years ago, and, as such, have no Hogsmeade weekends."  
  
"That's not the point!" he declared. "The point is... the point is, would you? If we had one. Right now."  
  
"James..." she started, without any intention to finish.  
  
"That's not answering the question. And," he added, "I'm perfectly willing to keep this up."  
  
"Oh, all right," Lily answered, with a drawn-out sigh. "I suppose I would."  
  
"That makes me very happy, Lily," James said, and might have convinced her of his sincerity if she'd only heard his voice and not seen his face. "I almost did this to you in seventh year, you know."  
  
She let her head fall forward, hair in her eyes for a moment before she pushed it back. "I would have had to kill you for it."  
  
"Sadly," he continued, oblivious to her words, "your room was more than halfway up the tower."  
  
"James. You do, and did, have a broom," she reminded him, picturing him hovering outside the stained-glass windows of the Gryffindor girls' dormitory.  
  
"That," he said, smirking wickedly, "sounds an awful lot like you're encouraging my behaviour."  
  
"I don't think I would have, then," she retorted, "but it seems I've recently come under bad influences." She imagined the expression she wore might have passed for innocence, but only to someone who didn't know her quite so well.   
  
"Sirius has that effect on people, yes. And he's a prat."  
  
"Where is he, anyhow?"  
  
"He went home," James informed her. "I think he went home. I imagine he probably went home." He sounded less and less sure of himself with each revision, and finished it by looking up with a sheepish smile. "I can't find my wand."   
  
Lily failed to swallow her laughter this time. "You probably left it with Sirius," she said, once she could speak again.  
  
Turning his head from side to side, he scanned the area. "_Lumos!_" he intoned half-heartedly, but there was no answering pulse of light.  
  
"James, would you come in now, please?" she asked, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she watched him apparently contemplate the decision.  
  
"All right," he agreed, and she shut the window.   
  
The door still hadn't opened by the time she'd finished stirring the embers in what was left of the fire, and a few moments later something small bounced off the glass. With a slight roll of her eyes, she parted the curtains. "What do you want now?"  
  
He shrugged, hands shoved firmly in his pockets again. "Unlock the door?"  
  
-- finis  
[2004.07.20] 


End file.
